Texas is a big place, so it’s no surprise we found another crew lurking beneath the yellow rose. To the southwest of DFW, TAR came about thanks to the Texas Ski Ranch. The cable brought them all to one place and they’ve since taken their friendship to a new level, riding in rivers and lakes across the greater central Texas region. A pretty even split between “pros” and “bros,” the TAR shares a common bond. “Everyone that’s a part of the TARnation is down for life, even if they aren’t in it to make some kind of living,” Bret Little said.

What makes your crew special?
Bret Little: The crew itself for sure. Everyone just wants to progress, and spread the Texas stoke. And have fun.

How did you guys meet?
Bret: Most of us met through the Texas Ski Ranch, since we are originally from all over Texas (Houston, Austin, Seguin) and beyond. TSR is the perfect place for riders of all types to congregate, and between there and all the surrounding rivers and lakes, the TARnation was born.
How often do you ride together?
Bret: It takes some work to get the WHOLE crew together, but between wakeskating, skateboarding, and wakeboarding parts of the crew are shredding together daily.

The First Breath Crew (For lack of a better name)

Which came first, the Crew or the Video? Well in this case, it’s hard to tell. Reminiscent of the Volume crew of last installment, these guys starting riding at Scott Byerly’s house, filmed all the time, and since they are all, well, ridiculously good, a video started to come together. But now that the video is nearing completion, the crew remains, riding together frequently because, you know, they are friends and like each other. Pretty cool how that works.

What makes your crew special?
Ross Gardner: We are bonded by love, not hate

How did you guys meet?
Ross: Through the gossip columns on alliancewakeskate.com

How often do you ride together?
Ross: Every time the sun comes up

Y.C.J.

When I mentioned the Crews to Reed Hansen he immediately requested I do his crew. Little known fact: It’s more than just him and Matt in this one! And the Y.C.J. is about togetherness in every facet of their lives, whether it’s muddin’ or kickflippin.’ According to Reed the crew can be summed up quite simply. “Awesome is our specialty!”
Riding Location: Lake Seneca, Lake Hansen, Lake Harris, Lake Delhousie but NEVER outside of the Lake County.Official Members: Matt Manzari, Darren Manzari, Reed Hansen, Kyle DigiacomoPull of Choice: We ride behind Jet Ski’s, boats, winches but I’d say our main pull source is Chevy trucks.Official Photographer: Reed Hansen
Token Strapper: Kyle “shred your face off” Digiacomo. But really, he is the best of both worlds.Latest Video: Coming soon to theaters near you.

What makes your crew special?
Reed Hansen: We don’t just wakeskate. You see all of these crews out here these days, and you ask yourself, “Is wakeskating really all they do?” We specialize in doing “awesome stuff all the time.” Whether it be throwing Matt on the hood and driving through car washes, driving through ponds in Reed’s mud truck, flipping Matt’s truck drifting, catching gator’s, riding a horse bareback that we found on the side of the road (all Kyle), doing crazy burnouts in Matt’s Z28 Camaro, or simply going out on the lake and riding until we are bleeding from our feet. You get the picture right? Everything that I named just now is awesome, and that is our specialty!

How did you guys meet?
Reed: Well, I guess it all started when Matt and Darren came to my parent’s wakeboard/wakeskate camp (WWC.) We all started riding together then Kyle came into the picture (I am trying to remember how, but have no clue.) We are more of a band of brothers than a crew. I mean, we trust each other with our lives on a day-to-day basis. I would let any of those guys charge straight at me in a big rig (90 mph), knowing that they would swerve at just the last second. The crazy thing is, I know for a fact that none of them have any clue how to even drive one.

How often do you ride together?
Reed: The whole crew together? Hmmmmm….once or twice a week probably. I mean, we are constantly doing crew activities together (mudding, road trips, hitting up the local McDonalds etc.)

Tenn Kooks

If we are being honest, this group of riders from Tennessee have put themselves on the greater-wakeskating map mostly though the message boards. They aren’t the top dogs, but who says a crew has to have pros in it to count? Actually the Tenn Kooks were once two crews, but have since come together to ride, party and otherwise cause mayhem on unsuspecting bystanders.

Riding location: Watts Barr lake, Kingston TNMembers: Tyler Moore, Jonathan Sharpe, Corey Gray, Blake Terry, Terry Bailey, Chad Lewis, Matt Burkhart, and Jacob Johnson.Pull of Choice: Split decision between and ski and a winch. I loveneon Jet Ski colors, so we’ll go with that.Photographer: Cody WaltersToken Strapper: Matt Burkhart, of course!Latest video: They are a couple rail-o-ween videos on the web. But keep your eyes open this spring for a video Jonathan and Tyler and working on, to a very special song.

What makes your crew special?
Tyler Moore: We combined two groups of riders and worked our way around the petty drama that sometimes comes with our great sport, to make one soul-riding band of brothers. Jonathan, Matt, Jacob and myself rode together, while Corey, Blake, and Chad Lewwy rode together. Then we all started chilling together and shredding the lakes of Eastern TN as one. There are others who wakeskate around us, but they don’t have the mental capacity to be a Tenn Kook.
How did you meet?
Tyler: We met at a local rail jam in Knoxville TN, that is thrown weekly throughout the summer.

How often do you ride together?
Tyler: Not all of us can meet up together every day, however, if you’re cruising on Watts Bar, Tellico, Melton Hill, of Fort Loudon, your sure to see some of us slashing a wake or two.

Of course this list is not comprehensive. There are so many crews that make up wakeskating it would be impossible to cover them all. But hopefully if you don’t already have a crew, you’ll be inspired to get out there and find your own. Spread the Stoke!